Mary+Pat+Krones

Mary Pat Krones

__**Basic Research Question:**__

Co-teaching may be defined “as the partnering of a general education teacher and a special education teacher or another specialist for the purpose of jointly delivering instruction to a diverse group of students, including those with disabilities or other special needs, in a general education setting and in a way that flexibly and deliberately meets their learning needs” (Friend, 2008). A number of researchers have considered the “effectiveness” of the co-teaching model. This research has considered the “effectiveness” or “success” in a variety of manners, including evaluating grades, attitudes, achievement, perceptions of teachers and students, and the collaborative teaching partnership between the general and special educator. A thorough review of the research reveals many positive effects for students, both general and special education identified. The researchers have defined “positive effect” in a variety of ways, not necessarily leading to a clear definition of “success”, nor do all of these research studies compare parallel courses of co-taught and non-co-taught to each other, to evaluate the true impact of co-teaching on student “success”.

This study will examine whether or not students who are in co-taught courses (both those identified as special education students and those who are identified as general education students) have a higher rate of “success”, as defined by earning credit, than their peers in the same courses, but are not taught under the co-taught model.

As indicated in the attached table, research studies have indicated a number of positive effects of the co-teaching model, both quantitative, such as an increase of academic scores, grades, or decreased behavioral referrals) and qualitative (increased self-confidence, student perception that the model was "beneficial). A meta-analysis of a number of research studies suggests that co-teaching is a moderately effective model for influencing student outcomes (such as improving reading or math scores, improving grades and improving peer acceptance).
 * __Summary of Literature Review:__**

To examine the success of co-teaching, as defined by acquisition of course credit, for both students who receive special education services, and students in general education, semester grades of students enrolled in English, math, social studies, and science co-taught courses will be compared to the same semester grades of students in parallel, non-co-taught courses (traditional model). This study will include five high schools in a large suburban high school district in the Midwest, with course sections at the ninth through twelfth grade level.
 * __Method:__**

The study will include multiple analysis of data, including an analysis of students identified for special education in co-taught settings, compared to students identified for special education in parallel, non-co-taught courses; a data analysis of how students identified as special education students compare to general education students, both within the co-taught sections, as well as compared to the traditional teaching sections; and lastly, general education student’s acquisition of course credit in co-taught versus traditional settings. The data will be analyzed by reviewing the percentage of students who earn course credits in each of these categories. Furthermore, data analysis will review not only the overall percentage of students earning credit in each of these subject areas, but will also include course to course comparisons. For example, students in English 101 co-taught will be compared to students in English 101 non-co-taught sections. This will allow for analysis at both the overall “subject” level, but also at the course “section” level. Data analysis will then review the effect size of co-teaching classes versus traditional classes, specifically for students identified to require special education services. This analysis of the data will evaluate whether or not there is a statistically significant difference between students’ acquisition of credit for coursework for students with IEPs who were enrolled in co-teaching courses and students with IEPs enrolled in traditionally taught courses.


 * __Further Directions:__**
 * __﻿__**The hypothesis of this study is that there will be a higher percentage of student earning credit in co-teaching courses than in their parallel, non-co-taught courses and subject areas. This researcher would expect that there will be a statistically significant difference, in favor of the co-teaching model, for students with IEPS earning course credit, when compared to the traditional model. New questions about the topic would include: Does the research suggest the district should expand the co-teaching model into other courses beyond the remedial level? Should the co-teaching model be considered for other populations of students, including those targeted for academic intervention through the Response to Intervention model or the ESL program? Additionally, other questions might involve considering whether or not the "success" of co-teaching should be defined in different or additional ways, such as EPAS scores or performance on common, summative assessments. The evaluation of current data and consideration of these future directions can guide decision making in the future of co-teaching in District 211.

__**Discussion Questions:**__ 1. For those of you who are co-teachers in District 211, do you observe the same positive benefits of co-teaching that the research suggests, and this researcher hypothesizes? What barriers to the success of the co-teaching model of have you encountered? 2. For those of you who are not co-teachers (including administrators), would you or wouldn't you endorse the co-teaching model? Why or why not? Do you believe the collaboration of a content specialist (regular education teacher) and a teacher who specializes in modifying and adapting curriculum and teaching methods (special education teacher) is valuable for all? Why or why not?

Lastly, for those of you who are interested in learning more about co-teaching, the following is a link to a resource guide from the State of Louisiana, Co-teaching Resource Guide.